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Word-a-Day Freewritings

So today I’m starting a word-a-day freewriting. 5 minutes of writing based upon a word thrown out at this website. I use freewriting, a bit too sparingly, in my high-school English classes and I’m thinking about incorporating these trigger words for potential blogging (all my students have blogs).

Today’s word: Filthy

In certain parts of the world, there’s a cache associated with cleanliness. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” we are told. However, there are sections of the world where the opposite is true. Actually, these aren’t “sections,” they’re more like demographics–groups of people for whom cleanliness is not even a concern, shouldn’t be a concern: Children would be one of these demographics.

As well they should be. For were it not for children, huge swaths of the world economy would suffer. Dry cleaners, detergents, bleaching agents, soap manufacturers….they’d be devastated. But “Ah! Suffer the little children.” Thank god for them that they’re just not worried about getting dirty. (See picture above.) This, of course, drives their parents mad, increases trips to Home Depot for carpet cleaners, and may, in some cases, require calls to the plumber to unclog drains filled with mud, sand, leaves, small animal carcasses, stones. This is typical, disturbing, and expected. (Note to those who are not parents yet…there’s an extra cost associated with owning a child here–see “plumbing” and “Home Depot” mentions above.)

So, “filthy”=increased economic activity, increased parental stress, and great fun for children everywhere.